“Lest We Forget” - Airdrie’s Royal Canadian Legion

Note: This is just one of many articles I wrote as Editor/Publisher of GO! Magazines. This story came from an issue of GO! Airdrie.

The Royal Canadian Legion was founded in 1925 and its mandate was to meet the needs of all who served in the Armed Forces and their dependents. One of the primary objectives of the Legion was to encourage, promote, support and participate in all forms of municipal, community and national service, during World Wars I and II and the Korean War. Following the Korean War the Legion became increasingly involved in community service. The athletics program for youth was established in early 1950s and has been one of the Legions most successful programs. Many other community programs included the National Unity and the Legion Senior programs as well as a medical fellowship to support the veterans of the wars.

The Airdrie Branch 288 was granted its charter on August 23rd. 1983. After many location moves over the years, moved into their new building on  3rd Avenue SE. and on January 1st. 1992 the branch took ownership of the building. Over the years the Airdrie branch has donated over one million dollars to various projects in the city.

Don Doal is a distinguished WW II veteran and at 82 years young, is a driving force behind the Airdrie Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. Don was born in a mining town in Northern Ontario. He worked in the mines until enlisting in the armed forces when the war broke out in 1939. As a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers, Don was a combat engineer on the front lines, building bridges and clearing the way for advancing troops. “Most of our work was at night as we laid mine fields to support our infantry troops,” explained Don. “I remember one night we were laying mines. I was by myself and as I looked up all I could see was two German boots standing in front of me. We looked at each other, turned around as quick as we could and ran in the opposite direction.”

According to Don, it’s hard for people to understand what fighting in a war is really like unless you have been there. We currently have troops fighting in Afghanistan and television brings us pictures everyday of what it’s like for our forces. But we don’t see the ugly side of combat except maybe through movies such as “Saving Private Ryan”, which is gut wrenching to watch, especially the first 30 minutes of the film. “War is hell,” said Don. “The average age of our troops was only 23 and many of us were still teenagers. When I talk to young people I try to emphasize that without the sacrifice that our soldiers made, they wouldn’t be enjoying the lifestyle they have today.”  Don feels that the history of what these men and women fought for in the wars should be taught as a separate subject in the schools. “Through good teaching our young people need to always remember that what went on during the war,” said Don. “Sadly for many people, Remembrance Day is just another holiday. What is really hard on us is that people forget and don’t care.”  

Brenda Clayton is the Airdrie Legion’s secretary and explains that every year for Remembrance Day the legion tries to involve the schools. “We send out posters and have an essay writing contest that each school can participate in with their English classes,” said Brenda. “Some schools participate while others are not interested, and we can’t understand why they can’t put this in as part of their curriculum. We also have a poppy campaign every year and it’s so sad sometimes to hear parents tell their children, when they ask what it’s all about, that it’s not important and not to waste their time.”

Don has been involved with the Airdrie branch since the beginning in 1983 and over the years has played a very active role in its programs. For the past 5 years Don has served as the branches Service Officer, and spends a lot of his time visiting the sick and dying in the hospitals. “It’s trying sometimes, when I have to visit one of our members who is dying,” said Don. “They may not have any family members left so I spend as much time as I can with them, because they are comrades.” Don also has to arrange funeral services if the family members want a Legion service. If the family can’t afford the funeral services the Legion looks after the costs. There are 15 WW II vets left in the Airdrie branch.

According to Brenda, the branches membership has gone up and down over the years. “At one point a couple of years ago our membership was way down and we were thinking we might have to sell our building,” said Brenda. “But we’ve managed to increase our numbers and although we are not out of the woods yet, we are trying to get more people to join and help out. Some people didn’t renew their memberships when they thought we were going to lose the building so some of these people are now coming back” The Legion building has a beautiful auditorium that will hold over 400 people as well as a lounge where they have luncheons and other functions. Membership fees are very modest and there are always lots of concerts, parties and other functions going on that members and non-members can attend.

For more information about the Airdrie Legion you can contact Brenda at 948-3000 or by email at …. . And let’s not forget to support the Legion and the veterans that made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy today.

Paul Oldford

On Receiving Unexpected News - Jeff Foster

You receive some unexpected news. You notice a sinking feeling in your stomach. The mind projects all kinds of pictures about how life could or should have been. It feels like life has gone wrong, like a dream is dying, like something that was yours has been lost. Not fair! You focus on what is missing, what isn't here, what went away, what will never return. You no longer feel at home in the moment. You feel disconnected, like you need some external circumstance to change for you to be at peace again.

But wait. Nothing has died except a dream of how it was 'supposed to be'. But it wasn't going to be that way. Not now. It is THIS way, now. Perhaps nothing has gone wrong in the universe at all, and this moment is not a mistake, not an enemy to be feared or rejected, but a friend, here to be honoured and embraced.

When the focus is on what's missing, what's gone, what's lost, we feel lost, homesick, ungrounded, separated from source, divided against ourselves, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. The never-ending story of lack begins with present-moment resistance.

When the focus is on what's still here, and what never left, and what's always here; when we remember who we really are, presence itself, we know that nothing fundamental has been lost. We feel aligned again, back home, even in the midst of devastating news. Perhaps the news was not a mistake at all. Perhaps it was yet another invitation to align, to turn towards the moment, to breathe deeply, and to remember who we are, which is never lost, never absent, never truly forgotten, and never far away. It is our peace, our joy and our unshakeable strength, our deeply rooted tree in a raging storm, silent and unchanging. And that's the best news of all.

What's wrong with Advertising today? - Part 3

So provided that what we offer is great and our service is outstanding then how do we get that message out there to drive more buyers to our business.

Here are four basic things that you will need to do…

1. Get Attention: Advertising must first and foremost get someone’s attention. And it doesn’t matter what form of advertising you are using. Until you have the buyers attention your advertising is going nowhere.

So how do we do this? Quite simply we need to identify and target the buyers “triggers”. A trigger is nothing more than something that is important or relevant to the buyer. Some headlines that do this..

1.       3 Things You Need To Know Before Buying A Home

2.       Something You Probably Didn’t Know About Buying A Car

3.       Over 2 Years You’ll Spend $500 On Your Ink-Jet Printer

4.       How Much Should You Be Paying For Your Office Furniture

These all capture our attention so that we want to read, watch or listen to learn more. Keep in mind that what we are saying here has to be of importance to the buyer. It has to “trigger” or peak their interest. Again the headline or lead-in has to do this.

Now let’s look at what you might find in similar ads that don’t do this.

1.       Our Homes Are Quality Made And Very Affordable

2.       We Have The Largest Selection And Best Priced Cars

3.       Get Our Latest Ink-Jet Printer For Just $59.99

4.       Quality Office Furniture From Our Family Owned Business

Again this is what you will find in most ads and unfortunately they simply don’t work, unless of course the owner is your next door neighbour and you buy from them anyway.

2. Connect The Buyer: You’ve got the buyers attention so now you need to connect the buyer to additional information that you are going to tell him or her about what you just said.  The buyer has been triggered for more information and it’s what we say next that will help them continue reading, watching or listening to what you have to say.

Again lets continue on with the examples we used above.

“3 Things You Need To Know Before Buying A Home”

We have discovered 3 critical mistakes that many people make when making a decision to purchase a home...

“Something You Probably Didn’t Know About Buying A Car”

Here are 4 things that can save you money before you buy your next vehicle...

“Over 2 Years You’ll Spend $500 On Your Ink-Jet Printer”

Most computer retailers don’t tell you this but there are other options to think about before you buy your next printer...

“How Much Should You Be Paying For Your Office Furniture”

Most people pay too much for their office furniture and here are some of the questions you need to ask before you buy...

These “connectors” encourage the buyer to want to learn more about what you have to tell them. Everyone wants to be educated so that their final decision as to where and what to buy is the best choice for them.

3. Coach Your Buyer:  So you have captured the buyers attention, and connected them to some valuable information that you are about to share. The next step is to provide the information that you’ve been promising the customer.

Now your probably thinking,  no one is going to read all this information while looking at an ad. You are both right and wrong. Since people always want to make “educated” purchases you are coaching them through the education and hopefully buying process. Remember people want to make the best decision possible. However you will not be able to give them all the information they need in an ad. So you give them enough information with a follow-up offer that I will explain in a moment.

In our above example about purchasing a car, we have promised to give the buyer 4 things that can save them money on their next purchase. So we list the 4 items and give a brief explanation for each. Again we don’t have to write a book here, just a short 2-4 lines that can explain each of the 4 things.

Stay tuned for Part 4...

The story of Eckhart Tolle and others as told by Owen.

If you are deeply depressed -- if you've come to hate your own existence, as well as the world -- then I hope you'll find comfort in the story of Eckhart Tolle.

Tolle, who was born in Germany, is now about 65 years-old. He is widely regarded as one of the few enlightened spiritual teachers in the Western world. But when he was 29, Eckhart Tolle almost killed himself. I am going to quote the first few paragraphs of Tolle's magnificent book, THE POWER OF NOW. If anything he says resonates with you, I hope you'll buy a copy of the book, and read it slowly. It might change your life.

"I have little use for the past and rarely think about it. However, I would briefly like to tell you how I came to be a spiritual teacher, and how this book came into existence."

"Until my 30th year, I lived in a state of almost continuous anxiety, interspersed with periods of suicidal depression. It feels now as if I am talking about some past lifetime, or somebody else's life."

"One night, not long after my 29^th birthday, I woke up in the early hours with a feeling of absolute dread. I had woken up with such a feeling many times before, but this time it was more intense than it had ever been before."

"The silence of the night, the vague outlines of furniture in the dark room, the distant noise of a passing train -- everything felt so alien, so hostile, and so utterly meaningless, that it created a deep loathing in me: a deep loathing of the world."

"The most loathsome thing of all, however, was my own existence. What was the point in continuing to live with this burden of misery? Why carry on with this continuous struggle? I could feel that a deep longing for annihilation, for non-existence, was now becoming much stronger than the instinctive desire to continue to live."

"'I cannot live with myself any longer.' This was the thought that kept repeating itself in my mind."

End of excerpt.

To find out how Eckhart Tolle conquered his depression, and completely remade himself, spiritually and emotionally, you should read the book. It will repay its cost a thousand fold and open Doors for you that need to be opened.

The terrible night that Tolle described above, was his Dark Night of the Soul; the very lowest point in what had been a lifelong descending slide. Lots of very famous spiritual gurus went through precisely the same emotional crisis.

Buddha spent six years trying to become enlightened. He was a disciple, at one time or another, to every famous spiritual teacher of his time. But none of them could help him. So Buddha finally gave up. He sat himself down under a Bodhi tree for 43 days, and became more and more depressed at his failure.

Finally, Buddha, like Tolle and others, reached his absolute lowest point. He gave up his desire to become enlightened, he gave up all his desires, and waited to die. It was Buddha's Dark Night of the Soul.

Instead of dying, Buddha awoke the next morning as an enlightened being. By giving up all his desires, he connected with his soul, the Divine Essence which was inside him (and is inside all of us), and was literally reborn. Buddha spent the next 40 years helping others to feel their connection with all beings and all things.

Swami Rama is one of the most famous mystics who ever came to America. In the 1970's, Swami Rama dazzled the doctors at the Mayo Clinic with his magical abilities

to completely control every aspect of his body. He could willfully stop his heart, or cause it to beat at 360 cycles per minute. Rama could drain every drop of blood from the right side of his body -- it turned white and dead -- and send the blood to his left side. Later, he founded The Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania, which survives and thrives to this day.

But Swami Rama tried to kill himself when he was in his mid 20's. He lived in India, and had been apprenticed to enlightened gurus all his life. However, the young Bhole Baba (as he was known then) could not make that final jump into his own enlightenment. So he told his mentor, Babaji, that he was going to tie rocks to his legs, and throw himself into the Ganges River.

Babaji followed his young disciple to the riverbank. This was the Dark Night of the Soul for young Bhole. He'd failed for 20 years to achieve his only desire. It was time to die.

Bhole tied ropes around the big rocks, and then attached the ropes to his legs. He stood on a platform above the deep water, and looked back one last time at his mentor, Babaji. And at that dark moment, Babaji walked forward, touched Bhole Baba on the forehead, and the young man fell backwards on the bank, and went into a 24-hour swoon. When he awoke, Bhole Baba was no more. The young man had become enlightened, and was known thereafter as Swami Rama.

So if you're feeling very depressed, and have even flirted with the idea of suicide, know that some of the greatest men and women in history have felt exactly as you do. Recall Jesus' Dark Night of the Soul, when he called out to God, "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Don't give up hope! Work on yourself, educate yourself about true spirituality. You are not your body, and you are not your mind. Begin with Eckhart Tolle's book, and go from there. Your Soul wants you to live, and so does God, the Universal Soul. Find a way to make it happen.

Blessings,

Owen

What's wrong with Advertising today? - Part 2

You might ask about all the great ads you see on TV. Surely these ads meet the criteria. Well if you’ve got an advertising budget like McDonalds, IBM or Coke then you can afford to do these types of ads. Most still don’t meet the criteria but if you bombard people with enough of this stuff then some of it is going to work. It’s the old saying, “If you throw enough mud at the wall some of it is going to stick.” Relatively few companies can afford to do this type of advertising or play in the big leagues, so these companies often win by forfeit.

So what about “menu type advertising” you might ask. Surely if I advertise my products at great prices people will want to buy from me. Well just because your ads don’t meet the criteria doesn’t mean they absolutely won’t work. In fact, sometimes they will.

Why you might ask? Well it’s simply because most of your competitors aren’t doing any better job at marketing their products or services then you are and people have to buy from somebody. Your not advertising.. You’re just order taking. Take a look at the ads for car dealers in your newspapers. They all look the same. You have 20 different dealers all selling cars at the lowest price. No wonder some of the auto makers are in trouble. They are all competing on price.

Here’s another test you can use as you are looking at ads. Ask yourself these questions.

Well I Would Hope So? Does the buyer already expect you to say what you said? If so it’s just a cliché and meaningless.

Who Else Can Say That? Can your competitors say the same things you’ve said? If so then you haven’t differentiated yourself.

Cross Out & Write In? Cross out your competitors name and put yours in there. Is the ad still valid?

In the early days of selling most buyers were at the mercy of the advertisers. There were fewer choices and less competition. Buyers didn’t have the knowledge they have today, hence your ads worked because of this. However in today’s world, there is more competition and many more choices. Your products and services are more like commodities and buyers have all the power. Simply putting a clever ad in the paper doesn’t mean buyers will beat a path to your door.

So how do we change our advertising so that we can meet the three criteria we talked about earlier? What can we do to get more people to respond to what we are selling?

Well first of all let me recap what I said earlier. You first have to make sure that the products and/or services you are offering are the very best in quality and meet the highest standards. Your customer service must be top notch. If you sell inferior products, offer services that are not reliable and trustworthy, or have lousy customer service then your advertising might get them in the door the first time but they won’t come back again and will certainly use word of mouth to destroy your firm’s credibility. So what you do and how you do it is of tantamount importance.

We'll take a look at getting your message out there in our next segment. 

What's wrong with Advertising today? - Part 1

Let's just take a look at what advertising is supposed to do...

1. First, it has to get the attention of the prospect or buyer. Before a buyer will do anything they have to be drawn to your ad.

2. Second, you must present the buyer with additional information that will help them as they gather knowledge and form opinions about your products or services. Assist your buyer and help them along in their decision making process.

3. Third, you need to make buyers feel that by purchasing from you they are making the very best choice available. They may have lots of options, but yours is the best. They are going to make a decision by reducing their risk, and your ad should be helping them do that.

Now if you look at most ads you’ll see that they don’t meet the above three criteria.

You will find that for many companies the most dominant part of the ad is their company name and logo. Do buyers really care about your name and logo? Does this draw to their attention what you are selling? Remember the first thing you have to do is get their attention.

Other ads will have some really great pictures or backgrounds that again are supposed to capture our attention. This may be very appealing to an artist but it doesn’t do anything for your potential customer. Unless maybe he or she is an artist!

And then we’ve got ads with gigantic maps showing people how to find you. Or what we call menu type advertising where you have lots of products with prices that again are supposed to grab our attention. Most don’t.

Take a look through the newspaper and see what ads get your attention. Most fail miserably.

So what about our second criteria, which is assisting the buyer in their decision making process. Again you will find most ads use worn out clichés. “In Business for over 40 years”, “Best Service Guaranteed”, “Quality Workmanship”, “Reliable”, “Trustworthy” and so on. Well so what? Would I want to do business with you if you didn’t offer all these? Most people expect all these things so why do we have to say them.


Other ads will talk about their products and services in the same fashion. “Our copiers will make your office more productive”, “We service all makes and models”, “Our athletic wear helps you look and feel fabulous”, “It’s not what we do, it’s how we do it”, “Your performance is our priority”.

Again if I’m a prospective buyer I would hope that all of these things are a given. I shouldn’t even have to ask. None of these are assisting the buyer in gathering information and helping them form opinions in their decision making process. Look at some more ads and see for yourself.

Let’s look at the third thing advertising is supposed to do. Lower the risk so they can make a wise decision.

None of what we have previously discussed regarding what most people put in their ads do this and the main reason is that we have not educated our prospect to the point where they are willing to do business with us. Clichés don’t work and neither do great pictures, company logos, maps, phone numbers etc. Even things like “Best Prices In Town”, “Deepest Discounts”, or “Fastest Delivery” mean nothing. Would you really want to do business with someone who says “Highest Prices In Town” or “Slowest Service”. So why do we have to say it? We hope to get these things anyway. We need to help the buyer by educating him or her to the point that they are ready to call or visit.

So in short, most forms of advertising fail because they don’t meet these three (3) criteria.

In our next segment we'll delve a little deeper into today's advertising methods.

Do countries lose religion as they gain wealth? - World - CBC News

Do countries lose religion as they gain wealth? - World - CBC News

Of course the answer is yes. When people have money then they perceive that the amount of suffering is reduced. By suffering I don't necessarily mean physical pain, it could be emotional, mental or any afflicted states. Religion is what people in poorer countries latch unto in an effort to ease their discomfort. However money or the glamour of money can also bring suffering and discomfort. When this happens people generally reach out to religion again as it is something from memory that can ease their pain etc. Unfortunately money doesn't buy happiness, unconditional love, peace, tranquility and meaning to ones life. Our thinking keeps us ever wanting more and more with increased wealth. It's just a perceived thought that  comes and then dissolves.